COO at the second annual Best Starts for Kids Virtual Summit: We Build. We Rise. We Soar!
Communities of Opportunity staff and partners were featured in several breakout sessions at last month’s Best Starts for Kids annual summit!
Check out some of the summit session recordings and descriptions below. More to come and the full summit recap here!
Best Starts for Kids 2021 Summit session: Shifting Systems – A Best Starts-COO Response to COVID-19
Shifting Systems – A Best Starts-COO & HSE Response to COVID-19
One year into the COVID-19 pandemic the health, social, and economic impacts of the crisis are still being felt across King County, with low-income households and communities of color experiencing the greatest harm. The pandemic has exacerbated existing systemic barriers to health and well-being that have led to inequities by race and place. Best Starts and COO/HSE community partners were able to pivot quickly to respond to the increased needs of King County residents and in this session participants will learn how Best Starts and COO/HSE were able to shift investments to support partners in the pandemic, as they moved to support community. At the same time, community groups are working to ensure that equity is built into COVID-19 response and recovery so that our region emerges from the pandemic with policies and systems that support equity and community health. Partners will also share about their experiences responding to systemic challenges that resulted from and were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and how their communities have responded with resilience to mitigate and address these challenges. Featuring Adriana Ortiz, Sensitive Locations Project Coordinator at El Centro de la Raza; Andrea Akita, Director of Communities of Opportunity; A.J. McClure, Executive Director of Global to Local; Cynthia Ramos, Lead Community Organizer at Comunidad Latina de Vashon; Cristina Gonzalez, Program Manager, Communities of Opportunity.
Building Bridges of Belonging to Counter Racism and Create Transformative Change
Building Bridges of Belonging to Counter Racism and Create Transformative Change
This session offered a space for youth presenters from Communities of Opportunity & Health and Safe Environments' community partner organizations to share how their work changed in the context of COVID-19, George Floyd and the demand for racial justice. Participants comprised of community, community leaders, CBO’s, teachers and youth activists who are vested in inclusion and belonging will be able to actively engage in facilitated conversation through deeper dive breakout sessions related to systemic racism and impacts on youth and where youth leaders see systems' change happening. After breakout sessions youth and community will come back as a larger group to share, learn and create strategies to combat, dismantle and create transformative change. Session designed and facilitated by youth leaders from the Korean Community Service Center and Living Well Kent!
Presenters: Ninona Boujrada, Program Manager, Best Starts for Kids Healthy & Safe Environments; Jeenah Gwak, YouthKAN Member, Korean Community Service Center; Hamdi Abdi, Youth Policy Council Member, Living Well Kent; Umol Moalim, Youth Policy Council Member, Living Well Kent; Shumoos Abdelrahman, Youth Policy Council Member, Living Well Kent; Yusuf Ali-Halane, Youth Program Coordinator, Living Well Kent; Grace Lee, Youth Organizer, Korean Community Service Center; Joann Kim, Korean Community Service Center; Amanda Kang, YouthKAN Member, Korean Community Service Center; Hope Yu, YouthKAN Member, Korean Community Service Center; Ismail Moalim, Scholar, Mill Creek Middle School; Yuna Kim, Scholar, Todd Beamer High School